Cooking

When you choose kale you probably feel that you are making an ultimately healthy choice. Kale packs the punch when it comes to benefits, and has done so for 2,000 years.Kale is known as one of the earliest vegetables cultivated by man. It was a hit among ancient Greeks and Romans as much as it is now in farm to table restaurants. Yes, you are eating the same food as Julius Caesar. (Take that friends that try to argue kale’s recent time in the limelight.) Early settlers from the British Isles brought kale and collards to America, probably in the late 1600s. In the nineteenth century, Scotland Kail was used as a common term for dinner and many Scottish kitchens featured a Kail Pot.We keep turning to this vibrant vegetable to nutrition and taste (if you know how to prepare it well).

There is a lot of controversy around the effect of legumes on our digestive system and health in general. Some people and traditions recommend making it the core of your diet while lots of paleo folks and functional medicine practitioner advise to shun away from them. I personally, still keep lentils in my diet 2-3 times per week. But since each body is different and each digestive system is different, I want to help you make the right decision for your body.

When I started doing yoga as a 12 year old and entertained myself with the idea of reaching enlightenment by the time I grow up, the idea of proper diet was starting to take a firm hold in my mind. Yogic texts that I read spoke about a pure sattvic diet that was mandatory for a true yogi. Meat, animal flesh, eggs were considered dull, heavy, impure. They were not supposed to be on a yogi’s menu.

A lot of my clients and friends find Ayurveda very intuitive once they start studying it. However, applying it to daily life, especially cooking and eating can be a bit overwhelming at first. Don’t worry, it gets much easier with time!

To begin, I would like to share something with you: I am not a perfect eater. I don’t always eat what’s best for my body and my digestion. I do overeat sometimes when stressed or bored. And I do love my sweets, even though they might be considered ‘healthy’ by general standards.

As an Indian, I always knew the uses and benefits of spices. Indian cuisine incorporates a variety of spices and my household was no different. My mother taught me how each spice is used and its benefits and medicinal qualities.

In general winter has a bad reputation – flu season, cold weather, weakened immune system, dry skin, and on top of that the inevitable cold season weight gain. Sounds pretty horrible! But according to Ayurveda, winter is one of the best times to strengthen immune system and lose or maintain weight. (Isn’t it a pleasant surprise?)